News
New complete edition
New complete edition of Sagas of Icelanders in German for publication in 2011, published and promoted by one of Germany’s leading publishing houses.
A complete edition of the classic Sagas of Icelanders (family Sagas) will be published in a new German translation in 2011 under a contract concluded on 4 September 2008 between German publishing house Fischer and Halldór Guðmundsson, project manager of Sagenhaftes Island/Fabulous Iceland (organising Iceland's participation in the Frankfurt Book Fair in 2011 as Guest of Honour).
Under the contract, Iceland will meet much of the translation costs, while Fischer undertakes publication, including editorial work and ambitious marketing of the work. The Icelandic contribution is part of the costs of the country's role as Guest of Honour in 2011.
The Sagas will be published in a splendid five-volume set. Publication is to be largely completed by 2011, after which Fischer envisages publication of audio books and paperback editions. The publishing house will undertake an extensive promotional campaign aimed both at the reading public and at booksellers, culminating in the 2011 Book Fair. The publicity campaign will aim to “throw light on this unique pinnacle of medieval European literature,” according to the contract. The year 2011 will be the 125th anniversary of the foundation of the Fischer publishing house, and the publication of the Sagas of Icelanders will be a key event in the celebration of this important landmark in the history of the company, one of Germany's largest and most respected publishers.
The aim is to translate the Sagas of Icelanders into readable literary German. They will, of course, be translated direct from the original Icelandic, while account will also be taken of the complete edition of the Sagas published in English several years ago by the Leifur Eiríksson publishing house; and collaboration is being arranged with respect to the notes and appendices of the English version. The new German translation, published with notes, maps and genealogies, will be aimed at the general reader rather than an academic readership. General editors will be Dr. Julia Zernack, professor of Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University and Klaus Böldl professor of Kiel University, an expert on Eddic poetry and Old Icelandic saga literature. Experienced translators of both Old Icelandic literature – such as Betty Wahl – and of modern writing – such as Kristof Magnússon, Tina Flecken and Karl Ludwig Wetzig – will make up the translation team.